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Duke Arts Presents

Shanghai Quartet featuring Wu Man, Pipa

Friday, April 8, 2016 | 8:00 pm

Baldwin Auditorium


The acclaimed Shanghai Quartet and pipa (Chinese lute) virtuoso Wu Man unite to perform new works by contemporary Chinese composers for string quartet and pipa.

Called “wonderfully ferocious and illuminating” by The Washington Post, the Shanghai Quartet are recognized for their unique fluency in both Eastern folk and Western Classical idioms. Hailed as the world’s premier pipa virtuoso and a leading ambassador of Chinese music, GRAMMY Award-nominated musician Wu Man is “the artist most responsible for brining the pipa to the Western world” (Los Angeles Times). She has built a career as a soloist, educator, and composer, giving her lute-like instrument — which has a 2000-year history in China — a new role in both traditional and contemporary music.

This program showcases their exceptional stylistic range with selections from China Song from the Shanghai’s own second violinist Yi-Wen Jiang, Song of the Ch’in by Zhou Long, and Red Lantern by Zhao Lin, derived from Zhao Jiping’s Raise the Red Lantern. The program concludes with Tan Dun’s Concerto for Pipa and String Quartet. Tan, who achieved international fame for his score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, blends elements of Western avant-garde, Chinese opera, and sounds of nature into one of today’s most remarkable musical voices.

Program

Traditional, arr. Yi-Wen Jiang: Selections from China Song
Traditional: Solo pipa work
Zhao Lin: Red Lantern, Quintet for Pipa and String Quartet
Zhou Long: Song of the Ch’in
Tan Dun: Concerto for and Pipa and String Quartet

Made possible, in part, with an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.